Gwynne Shotwell

Speaker Bio

Gwynne Shotwell is President and Chief Operating Officer of SpaceX, the world’s leading launch services provider that is transforming humanity’s ability to access space. Since joining SpaceX in 2002, the company has successfully launched its Falcon fleet of rockets more than 600 times, including safely flying 70+ astronauts to orbit and deploying thousands of Starlink satellites that connect millions of people around the globe with high-speed internet from space. SpaceX is also rapidly developing Starship, the world’s largest and first fully reusable rocket.

Gwynne is a member of the SpaceX Board of Directors and serves on Northwestern University’s Board of Trustees. She has also served on the National Space Council Users’ Advisory Group, the United States Export Import Bank's Advisory Committee, and the Federal Aviation Administration’s Management Advisory Council.

In addition to being inducted into the National Academy of Engineering, Shotwell was honored by the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement (RNASA) Foundation’s National Space Trophy. She was previously named the Satellite Executive of the Year, included on Time’s 100 Most Influential People and Fortune Magazine’s World’s 50 Greatest Leaders, and awarded the AIAA Goddard Astronautics Awards, Von Karmen Wings Award, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Ralph Coats Roe Medal. Shotwell was also elected to the honorable grade of Fellow with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Shotwell received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northwestern University in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics. She has authored dozens of papers on a variety of space related subjects and has also helped raise millions of dollars for STEM programs that reach thousands of students nationwide.